The Runaways

Police sirens sounded in the distance.

I grabbed Gauge by the arm and pulled her into a sewer drain tunnel, cupping my hand over her mouth.

I held my breath and closed my eyes tight, hearing the cops getting closer, and closer, until they passed us over head.

I let out the breath I'd been holding and dropped my hand from Gauges mouth.

"We're safe." I breathed.

"We're never safe Arrow. We never have been, we need a safe house." Gauge whined softly.

"I'll be 18 soon. Then they'll give up."

She breathed softly and rested her head on my stomach.

I played in her hair and sighed. "I promise that as long as I live, you'll never have to go home."

She nodded and curled up into my side.

"Forever." I whispered as her breaths became heavier and she drifted into a quiet sleep.

Gauge and I have been runaways since we were 15.

Growing up, Gauge and I have been the best of friends, sisters even.

She lost her mom when she was 7, that's when her dad became a raging alcoholic.

By the time she was 12, he started beating her with canes and belts, making her steal bottles of wine.

I remember staying the night at her house once when he threw a beer bottle at her face, she blocked with her arm and it shattered on impact. I took her home where my older brother River helped be pick the small shards of the amber glass out of her pale skin.

The scars remain though, they always will be there.

But my story isn't as bad. I don't get beat or anything. My life was kind of nice in a way. Both of my parents died in a plane crash when I was 10.

My brother at the time had just turned 18, and was put as one of my god parents.

So, my life was actually kind of good. My brother is a pot head hippie that works at a record store that hasn't sold shit in the past 10 years.

He smoked me out when I was 12 and bought me cigarettes up until now.

He's the only one who knew about the runaway, and he approved. "Life will carry on, just keep that little girl out of harms way and the light will guide you to the happy sunny day you've dreamt of my little rose bud."

Yeah, hes a major stoner.

So here we are, in a sewer tunnel in the middle of fall, just as school is starting up again, meaning a higher risk of us getting caught. We need to find somewhere to settle, fast.

I cant let Gauge go back to her father, never.